Communications device (e.g., personal computers, laptop computers, smart phones, tablets, etc.) users often operate more than one communications device. For example, an individual may use a personal computer (PC) at his/her place of business to create a file and/or to make changes to the created file. This individual may wish to continue working and making changes to the created file while away from his/her place of business using other communications devices (e.g., smart phone, tablet, laptop computer, or another personal computer). This individual may further wish to allow other communications device users to work on the created file and/or make their own contributions and changes to the created file.
Available file sharing and co-authoring techniques rely on a server to store a master copy of the created file. The individual user can access and work on this master copy of the created file using his/her various communications devices. Given appropriate permissions, other communications device users can also access this master file and make their own individual contributions to the file. Various synchronization schemes can then be used to synchronize the changes made by each user to the master file.
However, maintaining a large group of user's data on a centralized facility (e.g., server) can be demanding from both storage (e.g. disk space) and networking perspectives. Additionally, a centralized facility hosting a large amount of valuable data can pose security concerns since it can be a focused target for hackers.